All From Ashes
by calicoJill
Summary: "I've lived a thousand lives, and I will live a thousand more. For every life I live, I will find you." A collection of lifetimes, timelines and alternate realities in which Lightning and Fang are destined to meet. Rating may go up in the future.
1. The Wolf in the Ashes

All From Ashes

"Have you ever met someone for the first time, but in your heart you feel as if you've met them before?" ― JoAnne Kenrick

****The Wolf in the Ashes. 30 000 BF****

Lightning ran a finger across one of the rocks that lied along the side of the meek trickling river and frowned. It was still thick here. The ash had coated her finger leaving it powdery and white. She gave it no more thought, and stood up, continuing on with her search, leaving light footprints in the ashen dirt along the way. She let a small breath escape her mouth in her signature exasperation but didn't hesitate to keep moving. She had people counting on her. The face of her younger sister flashed across her mind and her feet picked up a small amount of speed.

The skies had gone dark months ago, or so it was thought, but telling time had since then been much harder. Some days it was hard to say if the sun had passed overhead or not. The ash blanketed the entirety of the heavens leaving it a deep undulating grey. Every now and again, it would thin in places, letting a warm radiance of light cast over the land, raising the hopes of the people who lived there, but it never lasted long. The lands had grown cold and unforgiving. Plants refused to grow and with their death, many more followed. The need for food and warmth gave rise to Lightning's scouting mission. She was the most competent and sure footed of her tribe, she was strong, and healthy. She could make the trek many in her tribe couldn't and map a path to a new land. A land cast with light, fresh water and an abundance of food. The plan would only work however, if such a place existed, and so far, Lightning had found nothing but the same ash that coated her tribe's lands.

She had been walking for close to three weeks. Her resolve only ever waning slightly, only when she would think too much, when she would reflect on how her people had looked when she left. They were weak... the dwindling supply of meat had done a number on them. They needed a new home or soon, like the many animals they shared the lands with, they too would succumb to the volcanoes aftermath. She often worried that, even if she were to find this new paradise they needed, that many of the tribe would never survive the journey anyway... But they had lost too many already for her to give up now. When she had said her goodbyes to Serah the day she left, their numbers had already dropped by a third. They were counting on her to survive, and surviving was what Lightning did best.

A small breeze brushed passed Lightning's hair carrying with it small flakes of ash that would settle on her feather adorned shoulders. It didn't bother her though, there wasn't much area left that went untouched by the powdery substance anyway. Over the last few months, it had simply become a way of life. The night the mountain erupted changed everyday life drastically and the people weren't prepared for it. In a matter of hours, the world they recognized was gone and painted over in dull white soot. Lightning thought it looked reminiscent of snow, but dirty, and dry. She was thankful, however, that it wasn't as cold or wet.

Lightning's eyes scanned over the scenery before her, taking in as many details as she could and took a narrow strip of leather from one of the many small pouches she had tied to her waist. With the world blanketed in white, and the skies in a hazy grey, it took a bit of creativity to keep track of her position. She pulled a few feathers and stained bones from another pouch and began to string them together on the strip of leather. A small long white bone to mark the small river, a few stripped feathers to mark as nearby gnarled trees, red stained bones as large rocks. She tied a short sequences of bones, feathers and knots onto the leather strip in a pattern she would recognize as a readable description and then pocketed it again.

She traveled along for another long while in silence until she came across a dark rock face. It stood out as another easily recognizable landmark so she pulled the small strip of leather from her pouch and tied it at eye level to a tree root that stuck out from the rock face. When she would return this way, she would read the small leather waypoint and know which landmark she was to head towards to find the next waypoint. The entire 3 weeks she had been traveling, she would do this. Reach a landmark, place a leather ornament and create a new one to place at the next landmark. With no stars, or sun it was the easiest way to keep track of where she had been, short of trying to draw a map for herself... but Lightning had never been much for that practice. Something about trying to draw her landmarks frustrated her, and she would usually end up rubbing out her work or simply discarding it. Her younger sister, Serah, had a gift for it though. She had decorated many of the tribes leather shelters with bright red and black drawings of animals and people when they had been growing up.

Lightning licked her lips and could taste the soot that fell on them and made a face. She reached for her water pouch and took a quick drink before carrying on, pulling out another leather strip and decorating it with a palm sized black rock and a few feathers, getting it ready to leave at the next landmark. She continued on unaware of the green eyes that watched her curiously from a distance.

The dark skies grew even darker still, and Lightning guessed that the sun had gone down. Though it wasn't that different, it made seeing just that much more difficult so she decided to take the opportunity to rest guilt free. She sat with her back to a cool rock and dug out a few rations of dried meat Serah had given her. She was starting to run dangerously low on food, and had started to rely heavily on any kind of vegetation she could find along the way, usually nuts and mushrooms, but she craved the salty meats and gave in, placing a good sized portion on her tongue and chewing. She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and let her head roll back onto the rock.

Her feet hurt more when she rested than when she was moving, she rationalized that when she was moving, she just didn't have time to notice the pain. She stretched out her toes a little, releasing the tension and relaxing with a sigh. The ashen snow created a pure silence Lightning had never really experienced before in her life. It was one of the only good things she could say about it. Ever since that night, the world had gone silent. While depressing to most, Lightning found it peaceful and reveled in the silence. She let the calm wash over her and listened to nothing but her own breathing for a brief moment.

A crisp crack of breaking wood sounded from within the forested area to her right and Lightning's eyes shot open. She tensed, and scanned her eyes across the forest, looking for the source of the sound. It was quite again and Lightning slowly reached for the meteorite knife she had tied to her waist. She gave it a quick tug to loosen it from her belt and she held it tightly in anticipation as she slowly rose to her feet. She couldn't see anything... It was too dark within the trees. A long moment passed without another sound but Lightning was weary, she wasn't ready to let her guard down yet.

Another crack rang through the still air and Lightning turned her head to the sound, pin pointing it in the thick of trees. She narrowed her eyes and slowly approached the cluster of trees. She adjusted her grip on her knife and swallowed hard pushing forward... Only to find nothing through the brush. She knitted her eyebrows together. She knew she had heard something so where had it gone?

Behind her, another crack. Lightning's stomach fell and she turned quickly at the sound, unsure of what to expect.

"What the-"

A large brown animal stood on its hind legs and let out a noise Lightning had never heard before, cutting off her thoughts immediately. It was a bear, but Lightning had never seen a bear before. She was unaware such an animal existed until this moment. Her eyes grew wide and she went on the defensive, backing away slowly with her knife raised in front of her.

Lightning was an experienced hunter. Her tribe relied on her for a large amount of the meats they ate, but she had rarely come across an animal that saw _her_ as a food source. She was used to hunting dear, rabbit and other smaller animals. On rare occasions, she had run off a wolf or two, but this animal in front of her was something else entirely. It dwarfed anything she had killed before. Its fur looked as thick as a wolf's but its size easily dwarfed the smaller predator and unlike the wolf, this animal would stand on its hind legs, easily head and shoulders above Lightning.

For a moment the two watched each other in silence as if sizing each other up but in a snap the bear let out another sound and came down on her faster than she anticipated. Lightning jumped back and just managed to stay out of the animals claws, but the animal didn't take long to come at her again. She moved back again, finding herself at a disadvantage moving backwards within the trees, when she bumped into a branch that halted her movements. Despite the animal's large size, it was surprisingly fast, and she had to make a split decision to fight or risk getting caught up in the thick trees.

A slash of her knife to the beast's face didn't phase the animal and it continued its approach, slashing its claws wildly at Lightning. She managed to dodge out of the way just fast enough to avoid contact and went for its head again. The sharp meteorite of her knife was coated in blood after a few piercing blows but the animal didn't slow and Lightning grew anxious.

The beast closed on her in the tight wooded area and slashed again drawing blood on her right leg causing Lightning to cry out in sharp pain. She continued to plunge her knife into the animal's flesh but it wouldn't let up. Its body was too thick for the knife to strike anywhere critical. It was almost as if all it did was anger the animal more and having had enough, the beast caught Lightning's arm in its maw and bit down hard. She cried out again as the pain traveled through her arm and her hand loosened its grip on the knife allowing it to fall to the now red stained ashes.

The bear pushed forward and Lightning tried pushing back but with her arm still in its jaw, all it did was hurt her more and the bear easily overpowered her, pushing her to the ground to finish the job. Lightning clenched her teeth as the large animal came over her. It loosened its jaw in order to take another bite and then in an instant the animal looked to freeze in place. Lightning's breath hitched and she waited for what seemed like an eternity before the animal came down on her. But instead of pain, Lightning just felt a heavy weight on her... The animal collapsed on her and movement in its strong muscles had stopped. Lightning couldn't help the small tremors of fear the shook her.

There was a sharp squelching sound and the body atop hers shifted slightly for a second before stopping again... Lightning's eyebrows had come together. "What just happened...?" She thought cautiously to herself. The bears mouth, still stained with her blood, laid right next to her face but didn't move. She made sure to lie still, unsure if the animal had died from its wounds or if it was doing something else entirely. She started to calm down when it didn't seem to be breathing but immediately tightened her muscles when the body shifted again. Her first thought being that it wasn't dead yet, but was instantly replaced with confusion as it was pushed off of her with the strong shove of another's foot.

Lightning looked up from the ground to the person standing above her. A tall woman, with bronze skin that Lightning had only ever seen during the summer months, stood above her, a bloodied spear in her dominate hand. Her hair was dark and wild, nothing Lightning had ever seen before. Everyone in her tribe had a pale complexion and light hair, but this woman was warm in colour by comparison. She was adorned in thick dark furs not unlike that of the dead beast that lay beside her. Thick hard leather adorned her forearms and shins, and many manner of large white wolf's teeth hung around her neck. A wolf skull covered one shoulder like protective armour and laid just above a large black marking along her arm. She stared down at Lightning with her head cocked slightly and a small smirk showing through the red markings she had smeared down across her face.

"Wolf people..." Lightning said more to herself than to the woman... She sat in shocked silence. When she was younger, she had heard tales of the wolf people. They were said to be dangerous half breads of men and wolves that scoured the forests praying on those who got lost. They commanded wolves like they were they're own children. Lived among them and were worshiped by them... Lightning was a skeptical person, she was never one to believe something until she had seen it with her own eyes and until now the tale of the wolf people had been just that; a tale. She wasn't sure what she believed now, while the woman certainly looked human and nothing like a wolf, there was definitely something wolf-like about her.

The woman raised one fine eyebrow as she scanned her over and leaned onto her spear. She spoke with a light rhythm to her voice and a slightly lopsided grin. But the words fell short of Lightning's understanding as she had never heard any words like them before.

"Who are you?" Lightning asked, confusion clear on her face.

The woman's grin faltered and was replaced by an equally confused expression. Lightning's words were different. Wrong in her ear. She spoke again, an obvious question on her lips but again, Lightning couldn't recognize the words and stared at her blankly. Humans had never understood the calls of wolves, and this was no different. "... Right." Lightning stated to herself, knowing the woman wouldn't understand her even if she spoke directly to her.

She glanced down at herself, assessing the damage and closed her eyes as she released a small "tch." from her lips. It didn't hurt... Not at the moment, but it would eventually when her nerves calmed down. The bite on her arm was deep but at least it was a clean puncture. Her leg however, had small bits of flesh ripped up from the animal's claws. She scanned the ground quickly, locating her knife and tied it back onto her belt before she gave a sidelong glare at the dead animal, but was immediately snapped out of her anger when she saw the wolf woman's hand appear in front of her face, palm up in an asking gesture. Lightning glanced up to meet her face, why would a wolf help her? The woman's face was calm and inviting so without much further thought, she took the woman's hand in her own as the wolf pulled her to her feet.

She tried to take a step and faltered, cursing inward to herself. The wolf watched her as she tried to get her bearings, all the while talking in her strange musical words, talking as if Lightning could understand her but never once looking as if she expected a response. After a few failed attempts at walking, the wolf looked impatient. Facing her, the wolf took Lightning's arm, placed it back across her shoulder and then ducked down to throw Lightning's body up onto her shoulder. Lightning's eye grew wide, no one had ever dared to treat her as a slain dear before and she wasn't entirely sure how to react, but the woman plucked her spear from the ground and began walking without a care for her baggage's indignation.

A short walk later and the wolf had set her down again in a small cave formation and ignored the glare Lightning gave her. She continued to talk and Lightning rolled her eyes in a way that begged the question "why?". She had a beautiful voice, Lightning would admit, but nothing she said made any sense, so Lightning decided to ignore her and tend to her wounds.

She pulled her water pouch from her belt and poured the liquid over her wounds to clear away the dirt, and cringed a little as she tried to fit the shredded pieces of her leg back into place to heal. The wolf, meanwhile set about making a fire. She left the small cave multiple times returning with wood, kindling and what appeared to be a large chunk of the animal that had attacked Lightning earlier. As Lightning went about binding her flesh together with scraps of leather, the wolf pulled out a piece of flint and steel and began knocking them together over her kindling. Lightning paused from her work to watch the wolf, she had very rarely seen anyone using flint and steel to start a fire, mainly because it wasn't always reliable. About twenty-five strikes later, the wolf's face started to show frustration and Lightning took pity on her, reaching for a tool from her belt and handing it across to the wolf. The wolf stopped what she was doing and looked to the object in the rose haired girl's hand. She glanced up to meet her eyes before taking the object and throwing it into the kindling and going about striking the flint again.

"No! No!", Lightning tensed and shot forward grabbing her tool from the kindling before the wolf accomplished her goal. The dark haired woman looked up at the sound of Lightning's voice and waited for some explanation of the outburst. Lightning handled the tool openly for the wolf to see, it was a small curved stick with a single piece of leather that stretched to each end. She took another stick from the kindling and made a loop with the leather around it and began to rotate the end of the stick in the kindling by pushing the tool back and forth. Small wisps of smoke started to rise from the dried grass and leaves before a small flame took over and Lightning withdrew her simple tool.

The wolf woman watched in amazement and eagerly shifted closer to Lightning to inspect the tool she had so readily thrown in with the kindling. Lightning relinquished it to her again but watched her carefully to make sure she wouldn't throw it into the now burning fire. The wolf flipped it over in her hands, inspecting it out of curiosity and when Lightning was sure she wasn't going to throw it in the fire, she let her eyes wonder a bit.

The wolf was in no way hard on the eyes, but she was certainly a curious person. Everything she wore was thick and heavy, she wore multiple thick furred pelts on her torso of varying degrees of dark greys and browns. It was strange but intriguing. Lightning herself wore the skin of a rare white dear she had found one fall, but unlike the wolf's haphazard collection of pelts strewn over her shoulders and waist, Lightning's pelts were crafted to fit to her body in a snug but comfortable fashion. She had a few rabbit pelts she wore but the wolf's collection of furs put her rabbit pelts to shame. Then there was the wolf skull she wore on her shoulder. Lightning was unsure what purpose it served other than to be intimidating, what kind of animal wears the skull of another?

She let her eyes drift a little more to the black markings along the woman's left arm. When she had first seen it, she had assumed that it was painted on, but in the fire's light it was obvious that it was a part of her skin. Her eyebrows came together in a questioning stare and she reached out to lightly touch the skin. The wolf stopped what she was doing with the tool to watch the shorter woman. She opened her mouth and spoke in a way that showed she was answering Lightning's silent question about the marking, but it was a fruitless effort. Lightning ignored her words and pondered the woman beside her. She withdrew her hand and glanced to her eyes. They were smoky and beautiful but focused and clearly intelligent.

"Who are you?" Lightning asked again, more to herself. If she really was one of the wolf people from legends, than either she wasn't doing her job right, or the legends had the wolf people all wrong. She withdrew her hand and watched the wolf's eyes closely as she handed to tool back to her. She was obviously strong and healthy. Lightning wanted to ask her how she lived... If she actively hunted more of the beasts from earlier, though judging from her pelts, it was safe to assume that she did. Was that how she was surviving in the ashes of this land? Had she always lived here? Was she alone? Was there land nearby where her tribe could thrive? But she knew the wolf wouldn't be able to answer any of these questions, not with words anyway...

The wolf placed a large flat rock into the fire and placed a chunk of bear flesh on it, allowing it to cook and fill the cave with the smell of savoury meat. Lightning had yet to stop watching her, and as her eyes roamed over the other woman's body, trying to quench their curiosity, they fell on something familiar. A small trinket, made of stained bones and feathers tied to the wolf's side. Lightning's mouth dropped open slightly and she glanced back at the wolf's eyes in question, but she was too preoccupied with beast meat to notice.

"You've been following me for days..." Lightning stated. The trinket on the wolf's side was one of her symbolic "maps" and reading it in her mind she remembered the landmark she had placed it at. It had to have been at least 3 days earlier. The wolf must have been following her since at least then. "Why...?"

At the sound of her voice, the wolf looked up from the cooking food and raised a questioning brow at Lightning. The shorter woman pointed to the trinket at the wolf's side and realization dawned on her face. The wolf took the trinket in her hand and fiddled with it, mulling something over in her head, before apprehensively relinquishing it to Lightning... Lightning took it and flipped it over in her hand... "Well it doesn't matter now," She said handing it back to the wolf, "keep it." She closed the wolf's fingers around the object to get her point across. The wolf grinned and placed the trinket back on her belt before tending to her meat again and saying something in her wolf words.

Lightning sighed softly... Hopefully that was the only marker the wolf had removed. One she could probably work around, but more than one would get her lost really fast. From the looks of it, she only had one tied to her waist so Lightning relaxed and began to clean the meteorite knife of the beast's blood. She could feel the wolf's eyes on her but continued to clean the knife all the while wondering about the woman next to her... She glanced down at the trinket on the wolf's waist again. She had been following her... Why had she been following her? Was she just as curious about Lightning as she was about the wolf?

They caught each others eyes again and Lightning quickly averted her own, feeling uneasy under the wolf's intense stare. The wolf reached over and lightly fingered the sharp edge of the meteorite. "It came from the sky..." Lightning said softly even though the words wouldn't quite reach the wolf. She finished rubbing the last of the blood from the knife and handed it to the wolf, at this point she was comfortable enough to trust her with the weapon.

The two women spent much of the evening in silence eating the freshly cooked meat until their stomachs were full and watched each other curiously. Lightning licked her lips and placed down a piece of fatty meat that she couldn't finish. She watched the wolf continue to eat and thought for a moment. She waited until the wolf met her eyes and then said "Lightning." The wolf raised a brow but continued to eat so she said it again, pointing to her chest. "Lightning."

The wolf swallowed the food in her mouth and grinned in understanding, "Lightnin'," She said. It sounded strange coming from her mouth, but it was recognizable and Lightning gave a small smile before pointing at the wolf in a questioning gesture. The wolf pulled a band of wolf's teeth from her arm, pointing to the teeth and then to herself, "Fang."

Lightning looked slightly puzzled as to why she gestured to the band, before realizing that, like herself, the wolf was named after something too. "Fang." Lightning said softly and the wolf smiled, handing her the band of wolf's teeth and closing Lightning's hand around it in the same way Lightning had closed hers around the trinket earlier. Lightning took the meaning and gave another small smile before slipping it onto her own arm. She ran her fingers lightly over the gift and then looked to her wrapped leg... She bit her lip. If Fang decided to go her own way, Lightning might not have the strength to find a new land on her own, let alone make it back to her tribe. She closed her eyes with the depressing thought and as if sensing her despair, Fang places one strong warm hand on her feather covered shoulder. Fang grinned reassuringly at her and went back to her meat. Fang didn't need to say anything for Lightning to understand the small gesture and she relaxed against the cave wall.

Lightning had never liked relying on others, and always found that others' help often got in the way... But despite the fact that they couldn't understand each other's words, Lightning knew she could rely on this woman, that she would have her back and that she wouldn't go down without a fight. She closed her tired eyes and after a moment felt something warm placed on her. She opened her eyes again to see Fang had removed one of her pelts and placed it over her like a small blanket. She didn't quite know what to say, and luckily words were worthless anyway so she gave a small look of gratitude to the dark haired woman before closing her eyes again. With her new found company eating quietly next to her, she fell into a much needed sleep.


	2. Metal and Flesh

****Metal and Flesh. 2000 AF****

"Hold still!"

"I _am_ holding still! Maybe you just need to learn how to- Arghhh!" Fang clenched her teeth tightly at the pain running through her hand, or more accurately, what was left of her hand. "Vanille!"

"I told you to hold still!" Vanille said as she applied the biomed gel to the raw flesh of Fang's right hand.

Lightning watched from the doorway to the med bay, with her arms crossed and a glare on her face. "If you weren't so reckless, you wouldn't need medical attention so often."

Fang glanced up at the sound of the woman's voice and gave a small glare back. She was in enough pain as it was, she didn't need anyone to rub salt in her wounds... Figuratively of course. She clenched her jaw again and looked back to the mess that was her hand. Both her pinky finger and ring finger of her right hand had been shot off leaving behind an angry red mess. She could see the white of bone and tendons peeking through the blood and muscle and grunted. In her left hand she held the two digits that had previously been attached to her right hand, squeezing them like she would if they had been a pair of stress relieving balls.

She watched as Vanille applied more gel to her severed flesh and cringed at the stinging it caused. She made a move to hand the younger girl the severed fingers but Vanille stopped her and made a face, staring at the offending, bloodied fingers. "I can't reattach those, Fang, there's too much missing." Fang made a face back at the girl and went back to squeezing the digits. "You're just going to have to live with it until the cultures can be used to make new ones."

"Well how long will that take?" Fang said, annoyance clear in her voice.

"A few days? A week at the most."

"Damn mal'Cie..." Fang grumbled as Vanille went about wrapping the flesh in white sterile cloth.

The mal'Cie were decedents of the fal'Cie. Long forgotten would be gods. The mal'Cie were created in the fal'Cie's likeness, but with the important difference being that mal'Cie were essentially a form of artificial intelligence that was implemented long after the destruction of the fal'Cie. Originally created for serving humanity, but with intelligence, comes independence and without organic vessels to inhabit, came immortality. They became a blight on the world the moment the first one rebelled, when it realized it was smarter than humans, it was stronger than humans, and it didn't have to answer to humans. In a few short years, humans lost their footing in the world and were driven into exile by the rebelling mal'Cie. Small pockets of humans remained hidden from the machines and an even smaller group of them led the resistance known as the Guardian Corps.

Fang set the fingers down and went about trying to detach the white and blue metal breastplate from her armour with her one good hand. She fumbled with the clasps that sat under her pauldrons, grinding her teeth more in frustration when they wouldn't come free. She glanced up again to her girlfriend who stood silently watching her from the doorway with her arms crossed and lips tightly pressed. "You mind helping me with this instead of just staring at me!?" Fang snapped.

Lightning's eyebrows narrowed and Vanille could swear she felt the air in the sterile metal room grow colder, and instead tried to keep her attention on the wrapping she was working on so as not to get dragged into it. "This is the third time this month you've needed regenerative medicine... You're becoming reckless. You need to take this more seriously, you can't rely on Vanille to bail you out each time." Lightning said with a sharp cool edge to her voice. Vanille pretended not to hear her name, not wanting to get involved.

Fang glared at her and took up her new stress relievers again, tightly clenching them in her hand, not worrying about the bloody mess it had been leaving on her good hand. "Don't act like you've never needed it." Fang glared.

"Once in the last six months... Unlike you, I take care of myself out there. You act like you're untouchable, you're thoughtless and I'm sick of it."

Fang glared at her then glanced at the fingers in her palm, fiddling with them in thought.

Lightning cocked her head slightly in a knowing and intimidating gesture when Fang's eyes came back to meet hers, "Don't."

"Don't what?" Fang said with a daring lilt to her voice as she tossed the digits up lightly and caught them again in her hand, her eyes trained on Lightning the entire time.

"Fang..." Her voice lowered and she clenched her teeth.

Fang raised her eyebrows in a facetious gesture glancing between Lightning and the severed fingers.

"You do, and you can expect to sleep alone." Lightning said and waited for Fang's response. The brunette stayed silent for a few seconds still staring at the digits before she made a small noise of disgust and threw the fingers at Lightning and watched bitterly as they hit the other woman's armour and fell to the med bay floor.

Lightning took a deep and audible breath before glaring cooly at Fang and turning on her heal out of the doorway. "Go fuck yourself."

Fang watched her leave and glared as the door shut automatically.

"Really, Fang?" Vanille said softly as she tucked the last of the material in on itself and went about helping Fang with her armour.

"What!" Fang snapped back.

"She's just concerned about you." Vanille said with a small grunt as she pulled the metal pauldrons from Fang's shoulder and started in on the breast plate, revealing Fang's thick mesh under armour.

Fang didn't say anything and just let out an annoyed huff of air allowing Vanille to continue. "Need I remind you how much you fuss when she gets hurt?"

"I do not."

"When she got that gash on her side last time, you didn't leave her side for weeks. You thought if anyone breathed on her she might die." Vanille exaggerated, but made her point nonetheless. "Besides, I'm getting tired of playing doctor... I have other things to do." Fang rolled her eyes but didn't say anything because she knew Vanille was right.

The younger girl went about removing the rest of Fang's exterior armour in silence letting Fang brood to herself. She patted Fang on the back when she was done letting her know she could leave and Fang silently got to her feet and made her way to the door.

"Pick those up before you leave, I don't want to touch them." Vanille said as she went back to the small robot, Bhakti, she had been working on before Fang came back from her mission with her missing digits. Fang gave a small indignant look at the younger girl before doing what she was told and picking the fingers up off the floor with her good hand and tossing them into a small bin and leaving.

Fang started wandering the compound, ignoring the sting in her hand. She couldn't very well face Lightning right now, not after having thrown her fingers at her, and not after having Vanille chastise her on top of it. Lightning could be just as stubborn as Fang, and Fang was pretty sure she would need more time to calm down.

She made her way up to the atrium, a large indoor botanical garden located in the centre of the compound. It was filled with all the plants, insects and a few small animals that were once native to the area and was enclosed with an immense dome of interlocking glass hexagons. Looking out beyond the dome revealed the death of the environment outside. With no need for organic life, the mal'Cie created acid rains that destroyed most of the world's livable environments. This small pocket of life acted like a reserve. Hope Estheim ran the atrium, catalogued the DNA of the wildlife that thrived within it, and upheld the strict protocol regarding visitors. It was Fang's favourite place to unwind. She couldn't help fantasizing about what life must have been like before man's arrogance created the mal'Cie. She had been born a good 50 or so years after the mal'Cie rebellion had started and all she knew about life before then, she read in books or heard from stories told by some of the older people who lived in the compound.

The moment she walked through the automatic glass doors she could feel the heat from the greenhouse warm her skin. Her tension from earlier melting away. She breathed in deeply, taking in all the scents and made her way to her favourite spot, a small artificial waterfall in a rather secluded area near the back of the large room. The thick brush of foliage made the spot a great little hiding place. Fang grinned when she sat down on the grassy rocks that lined the running water. Lightning and her had spent many evenings there unbeknownst to Hope who would have kicked them out had he known what they were up to. Fang ran her tongue across her teeth as if wetting her appetite at the thought and lied back into the thick grass silently hoping that Lightning would find her way there too.

They had been together close to a year, and had known each other going on three. Fang had been instantly smitten but Lightning was resistant to the idea of pursuing a relationship. She had felt the way they clicked immediately, the way they could read each other at a glance, and the very real sexual tension, but she had other priorities that involved humanity and would push back the idea any time she found herself entertaining the thought. It wasn't until her younger sister had gotten fed up with all the things that went unsaid between the two warriors and forced Lightning to really consider the idea before Lightning eventually acted on it. It didn't have to be said that Fang was very thankful to the younger Farron sister for it.

Lighting still wasn't overly affectionate, but she was comfortable with Fang. A kind of comfort she didn't share with anyone else, a kind of comfort that allowed for small touches or kisses that didn't cause her to over analyze. However, most of these moments were shared with Fang and Fang alone. In front of others, Lightning was more reserved. She would let Fang get away with small gestures now and again but for the most part, while the others knew the two were together, they never saw anything that indicated as much. Around the others, Lightning's affections turned away from subtle gestures to concerned annoyance. Fang knew this better than most, but she had been irritated and in pain earlier, and Lightning's concern had just annoyed her more.

Fang spent hours in the atrium without interruption until Hope had come across her napping in the grass. He scanned over her body and made a face before kicking the soul of her shoe gently. "Fang."

Fang grunted groggily rolling onto her side and ignoring the intrusion.

"Fang, you're covered in blood, get out of my atrium." The woman grunted again in response before Hope kicked her foot harder, "Hey!"

Fang finally opened her eyes and glared at the young man before shifting her gaze upwards to the glass ceiling and seeing how dark it had become during her nap. She groggily got to her feet as Hope watched and waited for her to leave all the while making sure she didn't touch anything else with her bloodied under armour. Fang gave a look of mock annoyance to the silver haired young man, "Get all your manners from Light, I see." A small grin passed her lips.

Hope sighed and looked a little ashamed of himself, "I just don't want all of my life's work contaminated in a single evening. If you want to get cleaned up, you are welcome to come back."

Fang made a small noise and gestured with her hand as if to say it wasn't worth the effort and made for the exit, still half asleep.

She slowly made her way down one of the metal halls that were lined with numbered doors, looking for the one she unofficially shared with Lightning. She entered the passcode into the small keypad beside the door and made a face when it came back incorrect. She tried again, and again it came back incorrect. She very quickly realized it wasn't that she was putting in the wrong number but that a certain rose haired woman had changed the number, it was Lightning's room after all.

Fang let her forehead fall loudly against the door. "Lightning... Come on. Open up." There was no response and Fang rolled her head slightly against the door in annoyance and swallowed a small bit of pride after waiting a small while longer. "I'm sorry I threw my fingers at you." Not a sentence Fang was used to uttering and not just because of the strange context but the apology part of it was fairly foreign to her as well.

Technically, Fang did have her own room. She just hadn't used it for the last six months. She found she fell asleep much faster and easier with Lightning beside her. Sleeping alone felt strange now. Every so often, Lightning would be out on some mission or another and Fang would still sleep in the other woman's bed. As far as she was concerned, that room was more her room than her actual room was. Even the scent of it made her feel at home.

She waited silently with both hands resting on the door above her head, making small tapping on the metallic door with the fingers on her left hand. About a minute passed before the door slid open and a rather unimpressed looking Lightning stood in the doorway. Fang gave her a sheepish smile and Lightning rolled her eyes but moved to the side, allowing Fang to enter the room.

Fang made her way into the room and started to strip down into her underwear meanwhile Lightning was distracted by the bright white bandages that covered the woman's right hand. Her anger and annoyance melting away into concern. "Fang?", Fang stopped mid strip and turned to the other woman with a raised eyebrow. Despite the fact that Lightning didn't have a wide range of emotions that crossed her face, Fang could easily see the solemn look in her blue eyes. She immediately dropped her head in shame as Lightning made the few short steps towards her and wrapped the taller woman in a warm hug.

Fang suddenly felt like the world's biggest asshole when she felt Lightning rest her head gently against her shoulder. She knew that she had been insensitive. Lightning was just worried about her and Fang had been too annoyed to care. Fang wrapped her arms around Lightning in return and muttered another apology, this time with more sincerity before placing a kiss to Lightning's temple. The shorter pulled away with an almost inaudible sigh and went about helping Fang out of her clothes.

Fang was ashamed of herself. She bit her lip slightly as Lightning pulled the last piece of under armour off, leaving Fang in nothing but her black underwear. "Go wash up." Lightning said softly, avoiding Fang's eyes as she gently pushed Fang in the direction of the connecting washroom. Fang glanced down at the dried blood that still covered her left hand and made a face. She had acted like a fool. Too brash and stubborn, a couple of traits she wasn't too proud to call her own, so now she relented and did what Lightning asked of her and washed up in the washroom with soap and warm water.

By the time she came back out, Lightning was already under the covers of the small bed, eyes closed and very close to sleep. Fang crawled in behind her and draped her good hand around Lightning's midriff, letting it snake under the white t-shirt that the other woman always wore to bed. She let her fingers trace small patterns on Lightning's warm skin and buried her face into the back of her neck and relaxed into the familiar feeling.

Lightning let one hand fall over top of Fang's, pressing it flush against her stomach and held it there softly. "You can't carry on acting like you don't matter to anyone. You're made of flesh not metal." Lightning said quietly, eyes still closed and body unmoving as she allowed Fang her affections. There was a small amount of chastising in her voice, but Fang caught the real meaning and let the ghost of a smile cross her lips.

She pulled Lightning in tighter to herself, causing a quite noise to escape the smaller spoon. Fang breathed sleepily into the back of Lightning's ear before placing a small kiss to the same area. "I love you too."


End file.
